Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Avalanche Mercifully Put Granato Out of Misery!

1) Well, mercifully' is probably inaccurate. Its been one of the worst kept secrets of the past couple of months that the Avalanche were looking to replace Granato who just completed his second (unsuccessful) stint behind the Colorado bench. Since the season ended there have been rumours and out right/up front stories of imminent successors. Most recently former Avalanche goalie, Patrick Roy. The Hall of Famer turned down the job all the while Granato was technically still the head coach. This had to feel like watching your significant other dating other people right in front of you even before you've officially broken up.

2) Colorado fired coach Granato today in a sweeping move that also resulted in the firings of five others in the organization and the naming of Greg Sherman as general manager.The Avalanche also fired assistant coaches Jacques Cloutier and Dave Barr, goaltending coach Jeff Hackett, assistant to the general manager Michel Goulet and video coordinator P.J. DeLuca.Sherman had been Colorado's assistant GM for the past seven seasons. Also promoted within the organization were Craig Billington as assistant GM and David Oliver as director of player development, succeeding Billington.

3) In news from earlier n the week the Montreal Canadiens hired former Senator/Panther head coach Jacques Martin to be their new coach. From reading press accounts Martin's biggest attribute was his ability to speak French and English? No word if Bob Gainey actually asked Martin about his hockey philosophy. In our opinion Florida's loss here is actually a net gain, and Montreal's loss. Despite his good record (during the regular season) in Ottawa, we have never been big fans of Martin (as coach or as GM). We feel this will force Florida to hire a real GM and that organization can finally turn the corner. meanwhile we predict the Habs will be better defensively next season, but get knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. In other words, no better, but a tad less entertaining to watch.